Sputnik Virophage

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3D printed in fully colored material with a coarse finish and a delicate feel.

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Product Description

Sputnik virophage is a subviral agent that reproduces in amoeba cells that are already infected by a certain helper virus; Sputnik uses the helper virus's machinery for reproduction and inhibits replication of the helper virus. Viruses like Sputnik that depend on co-infection of the host cell by helper viruses are known as satellite viruses. At its discovery in a Paris water-cooling tower in 2008 Sputnik was the first known satellite virus that inhibited replication of its helper virus and thus acted as a parasite of that virus. In analogy to the term bacteriophage it was called a virophage. However, the usage of this term and the relationship between virophages and classical satellite viruses remain controversial.